1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for the measurement of an event or occurrence, including a summing counter which is actuated from a divider circuit.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In devices of the type which are under consideration herein, the successive occurrence of the event which is to be measured is characterized by a pulse, and the measurement is implemented through the summation or adding together of the pulses. A typical example is the measurement of a traversed distance, whereby the relative movement is determined through the delivery of a pulse for each unit of distance, and the measured result is digitally determined in a unit of length, for example, in kilometers, and when required, indicated by a display. The correlation between the sensitivity of the receiver and the resolution of the measuring apparatus, or respectively, the display apparatus, is implemented through the intermediary of a divider circuit for the reduction of the pulse sequence which is delivered by the pulse generator for the event; for example, as disclosed in SIEMENS-Baustein 4502 (premliminary divider for a tachometer counter). Should the measured result of the length of the distance increase by about one (length) unit, when due to the traversed distance, the pulse generator for the event has delivered 5000 pulses, there is then required the resulting dividing number 5000 from the preliminary divider.
However, should the same measuring and display device be employed with an unchanged sequence of event pulses for the determination of the lengths of distance in another unit of measurement, then the dividing number must be correspondingly modified. When the different possible units of measurement do not have an integer or whole-numbered relationship to each other, this would then require a complex computing circuit for the division, inasmuch as divider circuits which are simply based on counting functions deliver only integers or whole-numbered dividing numbers.
However, for a change in a display of distances of travel from English miles to kilometers, the required dividing number would be 3107.133398, or for a selective measurement in SM (statue or nautical miles) and in kilometers this would consist of 2699.784; in effect, it could not only be represented as an improper or mixed fraction.